Midge Ure: Just a guitar and nowhere to hide

Former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure will pare it back to the basics on his upcoming NZ tour.

Midge Ure is full of fascinating stories about the decades he's spent in the entertainment industry. From his Visage days and his time as the frontman of Ultravox in the midst of the 80s new-wave era to Band Aid and the controversy "that" song still courts, as well as Live Aid and its lingering legacy.

They provide insights into some of music's most momentous events. Yet it's a non-music related story about used car parts, from a solo tour of New Zealand in the mid 1980s, that gets the conversation started when the Scottish-born singer picks up the phone at his home in Bath, to talk about his upcoming return.

"I remember I loved the fact that everyone was still driving around in old cars, because importing new cars was still expensive," he recalls.

"I had an old Vauxhall, which I'd bought in Glasgow for 200.

"I couldn't get parts for it in the UK, and I went to a scrap yard in New Zealand and I found a car that was in better condition than mine, so I took all the parts off it and brought them back with me in a suitcase."

As an artist who has enjoyed his greatest successes in bands and partnerships, such as his enduring one with Sir Bob Geldof, it's another solo tour that is bringing Ure back to these shores. Although unlike his last visit, he won't have a band.

"I think I might be mildly nervous before walking on stage, because I haven't been there for such a long time. I have no idea what people will expect. It's a scary thing to step up there and do it," Ure says of performing with just an acoustic guitar.

"I'd like to see more established artists getting up there and doing it. I'd love to see an artist like Kate Bush just playing a piano and singing some songs.

"Forget the dancing cellos, the backdrops, the projections and all that stuff, just let me hear the songs. All you have when you walk on there is the songs you've written. And they'd better be good, because ... you've got nothing to hide behind."

And good news for long-time fans - Ure doesn't shy away from the hits in favour of lesser-known new material.

"I don't think that's fair on the audience. You have to satisfy what you think they want to hear, which will be some of the Ultravox and Visage stuff with some of the solo stuff. But then you have to counteract that with what you think they might want to hear, which in my opinion, are some of the better songs, the more interesting songs," he says.

"Getting that balance of light and shade is incredibly important, because you don't have the luxury of having a light show and a big stage set. It's entirely down to you. You have to make the light and shade yourself."

Midge Ure is at Bodega in Wellington, April 17, Aurora Centre in Christchurch, April 18, SkyCity Theatre in Auckland on April 19 and the Theatre Royal in Nelson on April 20.